2000 at Hartford 4-1 win (New England Division F, tied 1-1)
(TICKER) Jamie Pollock scored a pair of first-period goals and assisted on another score as the Worcester IceCats defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack, 4-1, to even their series at one game apiece. Pollock netted back-to-back goals within a 2:39 span in the opening stanza to give Worcester a three-goal lead. He later assisted on Sylvain Blouin’s tally with 2:23 left in the second period. Brent Johnson, who turned away 28 of 29 shots, had his shutout bid snapped with just 2:18 remaining in the contest by Chris Wells. Jean-Francois Labbe surrendered four goals on 22 shots before being removed at the start of the third period to suffer the loss. After earning a split in Hartford, the IceCats will host Game Three on Wednesday.
2007 vs Manchester 3-2 win (Atlantic Division SF, trail 3-1)
(MONARCHS) Defenseman Tom Walsh collected three points as the Worcester Sharks held off elimination in Game 4 of the best-of-seven 2007 Calder Cup Atlantic Division Semifinal Series A with a 3-2 win over the Manchester Monarchs in front of a crowd of 1,543 fans at the DCU Center on Wednesday night. The Monarchs lead the series 3-1. Worcester started their battle of being down three games in the series with the first goal of the game at 15:48 of the first period. Right wing Graham Mink slid a pass to Walsh at the left point. Walsh looked for the pass but opted for the shot on net that sailed past Monarchs goaltender Jason LaBarbera to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead. Center Torrey Mitchell earned an assist on Worcester’s first goal of the game. Monarchs center Patrick O’Sullivan evened the game at 1-1 with his third tally of the series. Left wing Jeff Giuliano skated into the Sharks zone along the left wing boards and dropped the puck back to O’Sullivan just inside the left point. O’Sullivan fired a one-timer into the net glove-side on netminder Dimitri Patzold at 4:56 of the second period. Center Mike Iggulden’s second goal of the series gave the Sharks the 2-1 lead at 11:11 of the middle frame. Left wing Mathieu Darche passed the puck to Walsh in the slot for a one-timer. LaBarbera made the save on Walsh but the puck squirted free to the bottom of the left face-off circle. Iggulden shot the puck from an odd angle that snuck into the net for a power play goal. With 48 seconds remaining in the second period, left wing Matt Moulson tied the game at 2-2. O’Sullivan pushed the puck up to defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky who rushed into the Monarchs zone along the right wing and toward the net. Tverdovsky passed the puck to the slot where Moulson got his stick on it and redirected the puck between the goaltender’s legs for his first goal of the series. Walsh collected his third point of the game as he scored his second tally of the night at 12:24 of the final period. Iggulden skated on a 2-on-1 with Walsh. Iggulden passed the puck from the right face-off circle to Walsh streaking to the net on the left side. Walsh tapped the pass into the open net as LaBarbera slid from his left-to-right. Left wing Lukas Kasper collected an assist on the goal. LaBarbera took the loss with 34 shots. Patzold earned his first playoff victory with 27 saves. Manchester went 0-for-5 with the man advantage. Worcester was 1-for-6 on the power play.
2009 vs Hartford 5-3 win (Atlantic Division SF, win 4-2)
(WORSHARKS) The Sharks made history Saturday night at the DCU Center when they beat the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-3 to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs for the 1st time in team history and became the first Worcester team to ever win four consecutive AHL postseason contests. Dan DaSilva’s 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist), continued solid play from Thomas Greiss, and an overall outstanding team performance launched the Sharks over the Pack and into the 2nd round of the playoffs. Andrew Desjardins began Game 6 with a big hit on Hartford center Greg Moore in the opening minute before he netted a goal at 3:53 to give the Sharks an early 1-0 lead. Desjardins beat Hartford goaltender Matt Zaba on the Sharks 2nd shot of the game. However, the Worcester lead would be short-lived as Dane Byers cashed in on a Hartford power play opportunity and snuck a goal past Sharks net minder Thomas Greiss at 6:31 to knot the game 1-1. The Sharks would regain the lead before the end of the period with goals from Lukas Kaspar and Dan DaSilva. Kaspar made the score 2-1 with his 2nd goal of the playoffs when he banged home a feed from Matt Fornataro from the corner at 12:17. Moments later, after standing in anticipation of a one-timer feed next to the Hartford goal, DaSilva pocketed his 1st score of the playoffs on a beautiful pass from Frazer McLaren at 14:29 to go up 3-1. Greiss made a clutch diving stab on a breakaway by Greg Moore during a Worcester power play to maintain the Worcester lead as the shots on goal were tied 9-9 in the 1st period. Hartford cut the lead to 3-2 with a goal from Dale Weise at 5:52 in the 2nd frame. Weise skated in on Greiss and found the back of the net with a low wrister from the right faceoff circle. The Sharks would get the goal back on a power play when DaSilva scored his 2nd of the game on a pass from Jason Demers that found its way through the front of the crease and onto DaSilva’s stick to make the score 4-2 at 16:52. Worcester outshot the Wolf Pack 11-9 in the 2nd. Logan Couture got his 2nd professional goal at 13:18 in the 3rd period in an unorthodox fashion and with some assistance from the Wolf Pack. Couture stuffed a shot on Zaba’s pads and the puck was forced in by a Wolf Pack player who was sliding through the crease on pursuit of Couture. The goal put the Sharks up 5-2 at 13:18. Weise would tally his 2nd score of the night for the Wolf Pack to make the score 5-3 at 18:53 in the 3rd. Worcester was relentless in the 3rd stanza as they continued to pressure Hartford until the buzzer that finalized the 5-3 victory and capped a four game swing to move on to the 2nd round of the playoffs against division rivals the Providence Bruins.
2010 vs Manchester 4-3 win (Atlantic Division F, lead 1-0)
(WORSHARKS) The Worcester Sharks erased a two-goal deficit and hung on to defeat the Manchester Monarchs in game one of the best-of-seven Atlantic Division finals, 4-3 at the DCU Center Sunday night. Steven Zalewski provided the heroics late in the third period as Worcester now leads the series one game to none. Dean Strong, Cory Quirk, and Benn Ferriero had the other goals for Worcester. Dennis McCauley chipped in with two assists as well. It was the first time in Sharks franchise history that they have won game one of a playoff series. It did not take long for the scoring in the series to open, as Manchester’s Oscar Moller (2) tallied just 35 seconds into the opening period as he rushed down the left-wing from his own zone and beat Alex Stalock through the pads. The Monarchs added another goal at the 9:17 mark when Viatcheslav Voynov’s shot from the point was redirected past Stalock by John Zeiler (2). Both teams had multiple odd-man rush scoring chances late in the period, but neither was able to convert and the teams skated to the locker rooms with Manchester in front, 2-0. The Monarchs outshot the Sharks, 12-7. Worcester tallied the only goal of the second period when Ferriero (4) tipped a McCauley shot off the glove of Jonathan Bernier and into the back of the net at the 14:54 mark. The Sharks held the shot advantage, 9-7. The Sharks momentum carried over into the third period as they knotted the game at 2-2 just over two minutes into the frame. Defenseman Danny Groulx sent a hard cross-ice pass that deflected off Steven Zalewski’s stick and was eventually buried home by Strong (1). Worcester took their first lead of the game 6:29 into the period when Quirk (1) snapped one over the glove of Bernier after a tremendous individual effort from McCauley. The Monarchs battled back to tie it at 3-3, 9:32 into the period, when Dwight King (1) took a quick feed from Justin Azevedo and ripped one through the pads of Stalock. Zalewski put the Sharks back in front less than two minutes later when he banged home a rebound off a Brandon Mashinter shot. Quirk earned the other assist and the Sharks lead, 4-3. Worcester survived a flurry of late Manchester attacks and hung on for the game one victory. The Sharks outshot the Monarchs, 11-6.
2015 vs Hershey 3-1 loss (Eastern Conference QF, trail 2-0)
(WORSHARKS) The Worcester Sharks (#7 seed in East) dropped their second straight with a 3-1 loss to the Hershey Bears (#2 seed in East) in front 4,045 fans at the DCU Center on Saturday evening in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Eriah Hayes scored Worcester’s lone goal in the second period as Aaron Dell made 26 saves in net. Hershey scored three goals in the second period with scores by Jim O’Brien, Chris Conner, and Cameron Schilling, as Pheonix Copley made 33 saves in net in the 3-1 Hershey victory. There were no goals scored in a quiet first period. Both Hershey and Worcester were 0-for-1 on the power play as the Sharks outshot the Bears 13-9 through twenty minutes of play. After a scoreless first period, three goals were scored in a 2 1/2-minute span to kick off the second frame. At 1:03, Hershey center Jim O’Brien (1st) scored from the slot to put the Bears on the board. Less than two minutes later, Worcester forward Eriah Hayes (1st) fired the puck in the net from the left circle after a solid feed from Ryan Carpenter, tying the game up 1-1. Just 48 seconds later, Hershey regained the one-goal lead when left winger Chris Conner (1st) lit up the lamp from the corner. At the 13:58 mark, the Bears tacked on another after forward Liam O’Brien fed defenseman Cameron Schilling (1st) on a breakaway, who pushed the puck past Sharks’ goaltender Aaron Dell. Hershey outshot Worcester 13-10 and held a 3-1 advantage heading into the second intermission. No goals were scored in a quiet third period. Worcester outshot Hershey 11-7, but the Bears held on for 3-1 victory.
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